Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

how do you delete files from iCloud WITHOUT having them deleted from devices?

I need to delete files from iCloud WITHOUT having those files deleted from all my devices. How do I do that?

Posted on May 3, 2015 4:52 AM

Reply
3 replies

May 3, 2015 5:25 AM in response to shampel01

Just got off the phone with Apple customer service. It seems there is no around this problem. Once you use iCloud, you're screwed. The day you decide you don't want to have certain files store in iCloud, but you still want the files accessible on your computer, you have to spend valuable time copying/hiding a set of files on each device, and then re-setting up those same files in each device they way they should be once you delete them out of iCloud. Same thing if you decide to cancel your lCloud account.


No software should have the ability to hijack your data this way.

Oct 4, 2015 7:35 AM in response to shampel01

It really annoys me too, that you can't removed items from the iCloud Drive! I even went to a Apple Store workshop on iCloud and the Apple facilitator couldn't provide me with a clear and simple explanation - probably because these workshop facilitators are working to a script and are NOT trained on what Apple don't do well - only what they do do well and want you to get hooked into! Anyway, rant over . . . .


The following refers to documents uploaded to iCloud drive, deleted and retrieved - if that's of any help to anyone. Nothing to do with photo streaming or iCloud storage.


I created a couple of test documents and uploaded them to my iCloud drive. Then I deleted them from the iCloud Drive. A pop-up warned that this would also delete the document on my other devices. I went ahead and deleted. I opened Finder on Mac and checked that the document was not there (it wasn't!) I then went to trash bin in my dock, opened it, located the deleted documents and moved them back to where I wanted them to be within the appropriate folder in Finder.

how do you delete files from iCloud WITHOUT having them deleted from devices?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.